


Let the Shadows Grant Your Desire

by TCRegan



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst, Gen, Necromancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-07
Updated: 2015-04-07
Packaged: 2018-03-21 18:51:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3702371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TCRegan/pseuds/TCRegan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alexius is forced into researching for the Inquisition. However, there is only one thing he truly wants, one thing he only truly ever wanted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let the Shadows Grant Your Desire

**Author's Note:**

  * For [theangrywarlock](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theangrywarlock/gifts).



_"I couldn't save my son. Do you think my fate matters to me?"_

The words could have landed him with a thousand different fates. He could have ended up dead or worse. Not that it mattered to him. In fact, he would've preferred a hangman's noose or an executioner's axe to the judgment passed upon him. Felix was dead, and he couldn't even return home to ensure the funeral was taken care of. An associate of his wrote him a two sentence letter stating that Felix's body was committed to a pyre, his ashes taken to the Alexius family crypt where they would rest next to his mother's. Alexius wondered if his own would be put with his son's and wife's when he died.

The Inquisitor was compassionate to a fault. Naïve, Alexius thought, to the way the world actually worked. Which was why he was stuck here, in some no-name part of Orlais in a dusty chateau, surrounded by hundreds of books on magical theory. "Under guard" was what the Inquisitor ordered. Templars, southern templars with full magical nullification training, watched his every movement. Alexius had no doubt that they would hamper his escape should he try it. However, he had no desire to leave. Where would he go? His holdings were given to his next of kin, a distant cousin. Everything he worked for, gone. He would give it all up again too, just to see Felix one last time.

He put his pen down, no longer able to keep up the pretense of work, and rubbed his eyes. He was aware of the templar standing just inside the door, and the two that patrolled the courtyard outside the library's windows. He'd always enjoyed research, but even this grant from the Inquisition, a blanket order to 'research magical theory' and nearly unlimited resources couldn't excite him. What he wanted was to return to his room for privacy, and weep for his son.

"Do you need anything?" the templar asked.

Alexius inhaled, held his breath for a moment, then let it out. He took his pen up again. "No." Because there was nothing they had that he needed or wanted. Floating through existence the last few weeks, clutching the last handful of letters that Felix set him, their last goodbye before his son returned to Tevinter… the memories of his son looking so pale and fragile. Instead of the proud, strong young man Alexius knew him to be. His first order of business as a fully-fledged magister of the Magisterium had also been his last. And he was proud of him. He hoped Felix knew that.

"If you need to stop for the day, I can have the cook bring the evening meal sooner."

"That will not be necessary."

And damn them for the compassion they showed. He almost wished they'd treat him cruelly. It would be preferable to this careful coddling. But the Inquisitor insisted he be shown more courtesy 'than the magister has shown us.' He stared blankly at a page, frowning at it. The words all seemed to bleed together, and he blinked, realizing he'd started to tear up. He wouldn't show that weakness in front of these templars. These agents of the so called Inquisition.

Twenty minutes later, scratching down likely information and noting pages, Alexius was almost tempted to ask to stop for the day, to take them up on the offer of an earlier supper. He put his pen down again and looked up, about to say something when the lights went out. The summer months in Orlais were colder than Tevinter, but the last vestiges of sunlight still held on for as long as they could. Through the dim and dusty room, Alexius saw odd shapes, shadows on the walls that shouldn't have been there.

"What in Andraste's name-" the templar started, then choked.

Alexius watched, wide-eyed, a coil of fear in his chest as a shadow wrapped itself around the templar's neck and twisted. There was a very faint crack as his neck broke and he dropped to the floor. Outside, everything was silent and still. The sounds of the early evening no longer wafted through the open window. He could no longer hear the rattle of plate mail of the other templars. He could hear the sound of his own breath, wondering what was happening.

A deep, reverberating laugh echoed through the room, causing Alexius to snap to attention, sitting up straight. He wiped his suddenly sweaty palms on his robes, his mouth dry, and he was unable to swallow. That laugh. The Elder One. But how, and why? To kill him for his failure? He hoped for a quick death, though he doubted his former master would be so kind. The shadows in the room coalesced into a solid ball of blackness in front of him. The mass grew limbs, a head, and Corypheus stepped from the mist, a cold smile on his twisted face.

"Alexius."

"My lord," Alexius said automatically. He knew Corypheus was aware of his reservations about joining the Venatori. His one true motivation being that to save Felix's life. The idea of the Imperium rising was a noble one, but not at the expense of sanity. And now he would pay.

"So this is where they've locked you up," Corypheus drawled, one clawed finger dragging across the dark wood of the table at which he sat. A long thin scratch followed the claw, marring the otherwise perfect and polished surface. "Researching for the Inquisition. Against your fellow Venatori and my red templars."

"I would have preferred death."

Corypheus chuckled. "There is not a doubt in my mind that you speak the truth. The false 'Herald of Andraste' blesses you with fake compassion and forces you against me. Tell me, Alexius, have you had any progress?"

"No," Alexius said truthfully. Last week he thought he'd been at a breakthrough but his studies proved fruitless.

"I find that mortals are fickle things," he said, approaching the body of the dead templar. He toed the man over to his front and looked down at him, head tilted. "Also fragile."

Alexius waited, wondering if this was it. Death at the hands of his former master. The would-be god. And he wondered further how the Inquisitor hoped to defeat him. If the world burned, he wouldn't care. Let Corypheus reign, let the Fade burn and bleed into this world. They would deserve it.

"I am offering you another chance," Corypheus said, turning suddenly to look at him. "One chance to rejoin me."

Alexius looked down. "Why? I've already failed you. You have others."

"Would you prefer to stay in this pit? I've killed the Inquisition's soldiers. Do you think they will be so gracious to you when the bodies of their dead are found? Do you still hope for a quick and clean death then? Do you think that they would grant you that mercy?" Corypheus grinned, his mangled face making the expression seem terrifying.

Alexius swallowed. "What are my options?"

"Come back to me, and I will give you the one thing you want."

Before Alexius could say anything, Corypheus opened the door, revealing Felix on the other side. He smiled, looking happy and healthy, and Alexius's heart ached, stomach twisting painfully. It had to be a trick. Some kind of desire demon. And yet a part of him still wanted to believe, getting to his feet unconsciously.

"I traversed the Fade through one of the open rifts," Corypheus said, "to find your son's lost soul."

"Father."

Alexius broke, tears spilling over his cheeks. "Felix," he whispered.

And Felix crossed the room, embracing him, and Alexius clung to his son, weeping like a child while Felix whispered soothing words of reassurance to him.

"Touching reunion," Corypheus said, a note of distaste in his voice. "Rebuilding his body was not easy, as his old one was thrown on the pyre. However, I doubt you would have found the smell appealing should I have reanimated his corpse."

Alexius barely heard the words. He cupped Felix's face, looking at him intently. "Felix?"

"Yes, Father," Felix said, reaching up to take hold of his wrists. "I was… I'll tell you about it. But first…"

Alexius looked up at Corypheus. "Repayment. Anything. Anything you want."

Corypheus smirked. "Indeed."

The shadows converged yet again, sweeping the three of them up in their embrace, and carried them away from the Inquisition.

**Author's Note:**

> It's Vee's birthday today and she asked me to write her a fic with this premise. I leapt at the chance to write something darker for a change, and was only too happy to give her what she wanted.


End file.
